In order to reduce the burden on the candidates for preparation of the Odisha Civil Services Examination and Civil Services examination conducted by the UPSC separately due to separate pattern of examination/syllabus, the Government has decided to amend the existing provisions of the Odisha Civil Services (Combined Competitive Recruitment Examination) Rules, 1991 in consonance with the provisions made by UPSC in connection with pattern/scheme and subject of the examination for Central Civil Services Examination in the manner so that candidates can prepare themselves for the Civil Services Examination conducted by the OPSC and UPSC simultaneously, said an official notification.
The Main Examination shall consist of the following papers and each paper shall be of three hours duration.
A change has been promulgated in the English Essay section and candidates now will have the option to write it either in English or Odia. The marks in the OCS examination have also been rationalised to 2000 in total instead of 2250, it added.
Moreover, Candidates belonging to Unreserved category can take six attempts in the examination. No limit has been prescribed for candidates belonging to S.C. & S. T. category, while candidates belonging to the SEBC category will get nine attempts.